The fatal death of an 18-year-old black man at the hands of a police officer on Saturday has sparked a wave of local protest in Ferguson, Missouri.

Michael Brown, a recent high school graduate, was shot multiple times by a suburban St. Louis police officer on the street near an apartment complex in Ferguson.

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John Belmar, St. Louis County Police Chief, said the struggle happened when two young men, one of whom was Brown, assaulted the police officer.

One of the men pushed the officer back into his squad car and the shooting began. At least one shot was fired from the officer's gun inside the car, but it was not clear if the man who struggled with the police officer inside the car was Brown.

The fight escalated into the street, where Brown was shot several times. All the bullets found at the scene matched the officer's gun, Belmar confirmed.

The police are still in the process of investigating the reason why the officer shot Brown, who was confirmed unarmed at the time.

Chief Thomas Jackson of Ferguson Police Department said the second person involved in the struggle has not been charged or arrested and is still being questioned.

Hours after the news of the shooting, calls for justice spread quickly. A crowd of angry protesters gathered near the scene, as did 100 police cars from 15 departments.

Local police officers said protesters came in front of them, while shouting "Don't shoot me" with raised arms. They repeatedly chanted slogans such as "No justice, no peace" and carried signs that read "Disarm the police."

Some civil-right leaders expressed their criticism over the killing, citing similar incidents like that of a 17-year-old teen in 2012 who was shot by a Florida neighborhood watchman, as well as the death of a man in New York from a police chokehold. Both were reported as racially charged incidents.

John Gaskin from National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), an organization for African-American civil rights in the U.S., said the team was outraged because another African-American man has been killed again by law enforcement.

People joined a vigil on Sunday night where they placed candles, flowers and a teddy bear at the exact spot where Brown was killed.

Looting also occurred in several stores along a main road near the shooting scene, including a mini grocery store, check-cashing store, and boutique.

Witnesses reported seeing people vandalizing police cars and breaking windows. Armloads of goods were also stolen while the police did not appear to intervene.

However, there were no reports of injuries yet and St. Louis County officials are still unavailable for comments.

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